Barrier
by ShadowSarcasm
Summary: They got in, but they can't get out...It's been five years since they left, but despite expecting things to have changed, the aliens were not expecting a desolate wasteland to greet them where Tokyo used to be. And they were certainly not expecting the foul-mouthed, jaded, and angry remnants of Tokyo Mew Mew.
1. Prologue: Homecoming

"Earth," Pai mused quietly, "It's really been a while."

"Yeah, but...doesn't it look a little dark to you?" said Tart, "Tokyo, I mean. It was always so bright." He cocked his head to the side, and narrowed his eyes. "I mean, I _think_ it was a bit lighter, right Kisshu? You've been down there more than we have."

"Well, if something is wrong, wouldn't it be better just to find out by _landing_ instead of hovering in orbit for another five years?" he grumbled, "I just want to see them already, okay."

Pai leveled a glare at Kisshu and shook his head slowly. "And by them, you mean her. We know. But you're exaggerating. It's been approximately five point six minutes since we entered orbit. Be a little more patient."

"Pai, if I were patient, none of us would be alive right now. Okay, that's more if I were _logical _like you."

Tart yawned widely and began to drift backwards, much to the irritation of Pai, who proceeded to grab a foot and yank. "Be a little more careful, twerp! Space isn't a place to play!"

"But I'm bored!" Tart whined, and kicked the taller alien's hand away angrily. "It's been forever since we went down there!"

"I don't understand what it is with you two and exaggerations today. I'm just trying to find a way to land that doesn't involve debris or hitting a satellite. If you'd like to help, be my guest."

Kisshu shrugged, and stretched. "We did it last time without many problems, so it can't really be that much different now."

"Keep in mind, Deep Blue's ship _exploded,_ Kisshu, and it was in the outer atmosphere. Do you really want ship-bits embedded in the hull?" Pai pulled out a device, and poked at the dashboard for a few seconds while his two companions fidgeted. "Also, there's something interfering with the interface that wasn't here before."

"So, what, like actual sophisticated technology?" Asked Kisshu, leaning in to look over his shoulder, "that's unlikely, the humans are still - _heh_ - lightyears behind us."

Pai frowned, and studied the screen intently. "Yes and no; this seems more like...well, _our_ tech. I don't see how it could be, though."

Kish flipped through some of his data. "Yeah, seems like it," he murmured, "residue, maybe? We do use a different energy source than they do, and its half-life is certainly more than five years."

The two hovered over their mechanics while Tart flipped a few careless cartwheels through the darkness, and several minutes passed with little more than a mutter being exchanged between the group members.

"Okay, I think we're in. I have a landing pa-Tart, you do realize that if you leave the ship you will _die_."

"I can't guarantee that the landing will be spot on." Pai warned the group, while he tapped at the controls spread across the screen of the ship, "The power source is strongest over Tokyo, and it muddles readings."

"Please fasten your seat belts and keep hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times." Kisshu hissed under his breath, and rolled his eyes at the older alien. "Anything else we should know about before we risk life and limb?"

Pai shrugged, and fiddled with the controls a bit more. "Only that you endanger your own life by being an idiot many times on any given day."

"Love you too, man. All right, let's do this."


	2. Chapter 1: Crash Landing

"You know, last time I don't think landing destroyed half the ship. Do you remember a similar _charming_ interlude?"

"You know what, Tart-"

Kisshu spat a bit of seat cushion out of his mouth. "He does have a point, though. This was not as smooth as your normal landings. Something weird must be going on for there to be that much turbulence." Pai nodded absently, busy untangling bits of what looked vaguely like it had once been food out of his hair.

"You're probably right. I suppose there's only one way to figure out what's going on. Does the upper hatch still work, or was it, I don't know, melted shut in order to improve our day yet more?"

A creak. Then, "it works. We could just teleport, though."

"...I hate it when you act intelligent."

The hatch lid slammed to the ground on the outside, and Kisshu had opened his mouth to retaliate when there came a sharp female voice from above them.

"Okay, assholes, I don't know how they managed to get word to _more_ of you, and I'm sure you meant to make a more graceful entrance, but if you make a move I _will shoot you_. Where it hurts. I swear to God, you fuckers _multiply_."

Tart blinked slowly. "What."

"Exit the ship, slowly, will you." The voice hissed, "And keep your hands where I can see them."

They saw no other real option, so they did, and were faced with a straggly-looking apparition in frayed pink clothes. "How did you fucks find us, and-wait what the hell. _Kisshu_? _Pai_? _Tart_?" Her eyes widened and she dropped the weapon, hands trembling too much to maintain a firm grip.

"Uh...yes? Were you expecting someone else?" Even Kisshu, who was known for flirting in the worst of times, could think of nothing else to say.

"You- you mean you have _no idea?!"_ She was shocked, and pale, and very, very thin. Which was not normal.

Kisshu refocused and took in the rest of her appearance. She seemed to be in her transformed state, which was weird; she was dressed in a sleeveless turtleneck, reminiscent of her old uniform, covered in a beat-up jacket and a scarf over her mouth, along with a pair of baggy cargo pants and weathered army boots.

Kisshu considered in the back of his mind that he'd never seen her in pants before, and logged it away for future dissection. He returned to the task at hand; somehow she had her ears and tail out, despite having seemingly nothing left of the uniform except some small similarities, and the infamous mew mew tag that dangled from a necklace that peeked out from underneath the scarf.

Huh. Aside from the obvious pallor of her skin, she was mottled with bruises, and what looked to be a black eye was blooming across her eyelid, and once he looked closer, a heavy bandage was wrapped around her left wrist. He battled down the urge to pick her up and hold her until there were no signs of maltreatment left.

"I would assume," said Pai, "that your incredulousness at us not knowing something is also a half-explanation for…this," he waved his hand limply. The landscape surrounding them would have been hard to describe politely. It was desolate; one could see, if they looked carefully, the remains of Tokyo's sprawling metropolis and city centers, but mostly there were were small shanties and rubble.

There was a _lot_ of rubble. Lots. And glass. There was a lot of that too. Earth had changed since they had last been here, and it had changed for the worse.

Where here had once been a bustling city sidewalk filled with offices and shops, there was an empty wasteland filled with old newspapers and warning signs. Tall, arching skyscrapers loomed like monoliths over the abandoned streets, casting a dark shadow over the empty city, and the wind whistled through empty offices and homes, scattering dust and debris in the air.

Ichigo grimaced and turned away from the wreckage of their ship. "Yeah, that sounds about right…_fuck_, I'm sorry for this terrible greeting. C'mon, I'm sure the others will be glad to see you guys. We'll explain when we get to base. What little _can_ be explained, anyway."

She nimbly jumped down from her perch on a concrete block, and motioned for the aliens to follow. "You'll know it when you see it. It's a little less welcoming now, but hey, so's the rest of the city."

Kisshu vaulted through the air and came to a stop in front of her. "Look, kitten, I'm totally enjoying the whole enigmatic thing, but, uh...what the hell. You look like you've been steamrolled, and you haven't threatened me _once_ since we said hello."

Ichigo laughed bitterly, and waved her hand dismissively. "I _have_ been steamrolled, sort of, and I have bigger problems than you. Right now, at least." She grimaced, and rubbed a bruise on her cheek. "Ow," she said, "laughing hurts."

"Rubbing bruises does little to make them better, you know. It normally makes them worse, actually." Tart snarked, giving Ichigo a smarmy grin as he popped out of the ship to survey the area.

"Cretin. Of course I know that. But, see, _moving_ rubs bruises when you live like we do, and after the first month or so, you kind of forget they're there."

Kisshu was in considerable distress. The thought that she had gotten used to being black and blue was of much import to him, and he stared at her sideways, trying to levy if it was too dangerous to ask about it or to offer to teleport her to... wherever base was. She just looked so… _Tired._ Tired and worn. When he had last seen her, she had been vibrant; full of life, ready to face whatever came ahead. As they had left, she had watched them happily, with a grin that stretched ear to ear. Kisshu had thought that she'd never looked so beautiful. But he'd said goodbye, and it was over for good, no matter what his stupid rebellious heart had to say about it.

After all, he had meant it when he said he'd do anything for her. He clamped his mouth shut, and hovered only a few inches off the ground as he followed her.

Tart raised his eyebrows and said, "hey, old lady. What the hell happened to this place?"

Ichigo raised an unamused eyebrow. "Don't call me that. Like I said, I'll tell you later."

She was swaying slightly, and Kisshu was torn between reaching out to steady her and simply hugging her to his chest and never letting her go again. It broke his heart to see her like this, and he would have _words_ with whoever did this to her. Serious words. Words that involved knives and physical injury, instead of actual words.

Finally Ichigo paused for a break, and Kisshu took the opportunity to put a steadying hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right? You look about ready to collapse."

She turned her eye on his hand, seemed to deem it not worth her time, and sighed. "I probably am. Come on, it's over here."

"Just tell us where it is. I can teleport you there."

She looked him in the eye and he was again hit with sudden vertigo. "Teleportation…" she shook her head and said, "No, but thanks. Let's just keep moving."

As they moved, certain things began to seem familiar; the scratched signs, those parts of buildings still left, the patterns of the road.

"Wait, are we going to the _café?_"

"No, we're going to the fallout shelter _under _the café. Good guess, though. I'm surprised that you remembered."

"Of course I did...wait, you have a fallout shelter?"

Ichigo considered it for a moment, and then shook her head. "No, _Ryou_ has a fallout shelter that happened to make it through the first…. wave. We just took it."

"Ichigo, level with me here. What the hell was the first wave, and why did it, uh..._fucking destroy Tokyo?_"

"Oh, no, the _second_ wave destroyed Tokyo. Anyway, it's not safe to talk about it here, or really anywhere, for that matter, but the shelter's the safest thing we got."

"I...um."

Pai looked up from where he had been staring intently at a small device. He said, "Kisshu, look at this; it's definitely not residue from us, and it's an unusually powerful energy source. It's centered approximately a mile and a half from here."

"Pai, do us all a favor and _shut up until we get to the damned shelter,_" Ichigo hissed, and ducked behind a corner as an ominous rumble echoed through the streets. Tart opened his mouth to protest, but was quickly silenced by sharp glares from both his companions, and they all subsided into a moody silence until the last echoes of the tremor had faded away.

"Good," Ichigo sighed, sagging in relief, "It's gone." Her eyelids drooped slightly, and her eyes dimmed in exhaustion as the slumped against the wall, hands shaking. "Help me up?" She asked quietly, ears drooping.

Kisshu was nearing a mental breakdown. Ichigo wasn't telling him anything, Tokyo was in ruins, Ichigo was hurt, their ship was trashed, Ichigo was hurt, and he _couldn't do anything about it._ He was helpless. _Again_.

The feeling was all too familiar, and a bitter taste rose in the back of his mouth as he recalled the feeling of cold marble, and warm tears on his face. He'd been helpless then too. Helpless to save the girl he loved, the world that he'd come to cherish, even himself. Deep Blue had been right when he called him 'useless one'. _God_, he was pathetic. Oh, wait, his God had been the one to tell him that.

He shook himself to clear all the old memories, and offered a hand. "Sure thing, Kitten," he said, "Always glad to help."

She took it wordlessly, and pulled herself to her feet. "Right. Back to business. The Café."

It wasn't really a café anymore. If you looked at it honestly, it wasn't even a building, let alone a charming place of business. there were pink chunks of wall strewn about lackadaisically, and where there had once been chandeliers, tables, and chairs there were crumbling ruins and sharp bits of metal. It looked so abandoned Kisshu didn't even notice the locked trapdoor until Ichigo slammed her foot on it five times in a strange rhythm.

She jumped off, and a few seconds later it opened and hit the ground with surprising softness, and from the staircase beneath rose a very hassled-looking Lettuce Midorikawa. She was speaking even as she rose from the depths, "Ichigo, thank God you're back. We have an apparent recovery in the quarantine room, and I don't know what you want me to do with," she went quiet, stared through broken lenses at the aliens, then said, softly and in a much higher tone than she had been speaking, "um, is that…?"

"Yeah," said Ichigo, "it is. They're safe. And keep it under surveillance, we don't want it reverting."

"Well, uh...welcome back, you three, so long as you're not here to try and kill us...I guess I'm sorry about the mess?" She smiled at her own joke. She, like Ichigo, seemed to have gotten into an argument with a tractor; her skin had a pallor that seemed like it was striving to match her hair, which had ceased to be organized and was in a haphazard bun on the back of her head, matching the frayed ribbons there like a prisoner-of-war chic fashion show. She had a brown leather jacket over her Mew top, which was again thrown off by a bloodstained denim skirt, her uniform boots, and what appeared to be a chainsaw tied to a belt on her waist.

"Okay, we're done with that, let's get the hell on," muttered Ichigo.

"Right, okay," said Lettuce, tearing her large eyes away from the aliens.

"So," said Ichigo, shutting the door as they descended, "How's the Blue Queen?"

"The bluebird of happiness? Chipper as ever. She threatened to shoot me when I said she couldn't do a solo mission with that infection. Slap her, will you?"

"Did you have Zakuro tie her down?"

"No, I think she'd enjoy that too much...well, boys, welcome to our humble home," she gestured to the hall they now stood in. It was dimly lit, with one grimy lightbulb, and it had several doors leading off to other rooms connected to it on either side. "It used to be much prettier, but it's seen blood, sweat, and vomit since then."

"Lettuce," said Ichigo, voice authoritative, "everyone's in Mint's room, right?"

"Yes."

"Great. Come on, assholes, time to give you some answers."

* * *

_A: Okay! So, this is it. We did the thing. It is finished! And with this, welcome to Barrier. Prepare to see us beat the shit out of your favs. ~3_

_**S: We did do the thing! It's pretty darn nice if I do say so myself.**_


End file.
